The Spark on the Battlefield
by OfficerGiraffe
Summary: After an illegal murder by Blu team during ceasefire, Red team finds themselves needing a new pyro. Emily is just the girl for the job. However because she's afraid of how her team would react to her being female, she refuses to let them know. With Blu team threatening another strike, Emily's psychological health, and untrusting members of the Red team, Emily has a lot on her plate
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **

**Hey guys! So you should know that this is my very first fanfiction story. I've really been into TF2 lately and I decided I'd make a little story for it.  
You should also know that first chapters are not my specialty. Bare with me through this, I know this chapter may be boring to some of you, but I promise the story will get better. I'm not one to leave my stories sitting either, so I'll continue to work on and post chapters all the time.**

**One more thing, I'm not to great with typing accents, so you'll notice that I might skip out on giving Sniper or Demo their accents. I'd rather not do the accents if they're going to sound weird when I do them. However, if you find it necessary to have the accents throughout the story, please feel free to message me or leave a review to give me tips on how to do the accents and I will definitely try to make them better. ****  
**

**That being said, ****writing is my passion and I am very open to all criticism and tips to make my writing better. So please if you see something I need to work on, please tell me about it. **

******Alright I think that's enough from me. Let's get to the story!**

The Spark on the Battlefield

The room filled with loud beeps and buzzes. The monitors in the front of the room were replaying a scene from 2 nights before, 4 hours after the most recent mission of king of the hill on sawmill. It was the footage of after ceasefire had been called. All mercenaries were supposed to be in their designated rest houses while they waited for the next mission. However, in this clip some Mercenaries were not in the designated areas. It showed Red Pyro pinned down by Blu Spy in front of a saw as it came towards the fire lover. The end of the clip was bloody and resulted in one less red team member. Due to it being ceasefire, the spawn wouldn't be bringing that pyro back either. He was gone.

A bored and hushed sigh came from the administrator as she watched the replays. "And he was such a good pyro too…" she muttered out loud. She then turned to me, taking a puff of her cigarette. "However, due to the records of your mercenary training, I can tell that you'll be just as good as the previous pyro, if not better. " She stated, grabbing a folder from her desk, flipping through it. I gulped when she looked back up at me. "Miss Pauling and I chose you because you've shown excellence in training and you were the best we could get in short notice. So, don't make us regret picking you." The woman hissed. I nodded. "I won't let you down ma'am." I assured. The administrator looked me over once more before giving a small smirk.

"Good. Now, Miss Pauling will escort you to the base where one of the Red Team will be waiting to show you around. The weapons that you'll start with will be in your room. Prove to us that you're worth the money, and you will receive other types of weapons to use. As for your request, you do realize that keeping your identity safe will not be easy, yes?" The woman took another puff of cigarette, waiting for my answer. "Yes. I realize that, but I'll manage the look. Should I HAVE to take off my suit, I have other ways of concealment. I just ask that you secure the written proof from my teammates." I stated, staring at her with complete confidence.

She smirked slightly. "Fine. We will secure everything. We've also made adjustments to your room. We've added on a bathroom and told the others that it was required due to your health. That is all I can do for you. Miss Pauling will be giving you more details on your job on your way to the base." Again, the Administrator took a puff of her cigarette before speaking again. "Now, Do you have any questions for me?"

"Actually, yes I do." I said, moving my gaze to the monitors. "What happened to him?" I motioned towards the Blu spy. The Administrator could see the slight concern on my face. I mean, I was taking that pyro's place. I had a right to be concerned after watching that footage over and over again. She took a long puff of her cigarette before answering. "He was fired and immediately replaced." She finally stated.

I could see in her eyes though that he was more than just fired. Something told me that no one was ever going to hear from that spy again.

I nodded at the Administrator, understanding. "Anything else?" she asked. I shook my head. "Good. Then take your bag and leave. Miss Pauling is waiting outside."

"Yes ma'am. Oh and Thank you for this opportunity." I declared. She nodded. "Like I said, _don't_ make me regret choosing you." She added. I nodded towards her. "I don't intend to." And with that said I headed out.

Just as the Administrator said, Miss Pauling was waiting right outside, holding the door to a car open for me. I nodded my thanks to her and slid in. She followed me in, telling the driver to go the second the door was shut.

"First off, I want to say it's good to have you. It's nice to finally have a female on the field." She stated. I smiled. "Good to be here."

Miss Pauling gave a simple smile and turned to some paper work that she held in her lap. At first I thought she was going to make me sign more papers and contracts that covered them should something go terribly wrong, but it turns out it was just the things she needed to go over with me and a few of my files.

"Okay, Miss Emily. So you already know that you're a pyro, meaning you work with fire. You'll mainly be a hit and run attacker. The type of missions that you'll participate in will be as follows: King of the Hill; capture and keep the point, Capture Points; self-explanatory, 2fort; essentially capture the flag, Payload; taking a cart to a location which will be picked out for you, and MVM; Fighting robots so they don't blow up the base. Before each mission your team will briefly explain what your goal is. You're on the Red team and will constantly be fighting the Blu team, save for MVM missions. Any questions?" Miss Pauling hurried through the explanation, as if she were short on time. "No, I think I've got it." I replied.

Miss Pauling nodded. "Well if you think of anything, you can ask your teammates. They've all been here a while and know just about anything and everything that I do about the way the missions work."

"Thank you Miss Pauling." I said smiling at her. She smiled back. "Of course, anyway, here we are."

We pulled up to a fort like building that was painted red. A rather short man, wearing a hard hat stood in front of the door. Before I got out of the car, I pulled on my mask and zipped up my pyro's suit. When my girlish body features were covered. I put my bag on my back, waved to Miss Pauling and got out.

The second I was out of the car it drove off. With nothing left to do I breathed out, shaking my nerves off and headed over to the man in the hard hat.

"Howdy Partner. You must be the new pyro. Nice to meet you. I'm the Engineer, but everyone calls me Engi. Welcome to your new home, I'll be showing you around." The man said, holding his hand out for a handshake. I took his hand, shaking it, and nodded to show I understood. I wish I could talk, but all they'd hear is a bunch of mumbles and I couldn't risk these guys finding out I was a girl. I have no idea how they'll react and I don't really want to know.

Engi walked me into the base, showing me where everything was. When we hit the living room, two other men noticed us. One them was listening to the radio, had a rifle on his back, behind a shield of some sort and wore a vest. The other wore an eyepatch and seemed to be completely wasted. I saw no weapons near him and probably for good reason.

"Boys, this is our new pyro. Pyro, meet Sniper and Demo." Engi introduced. I waved hello to them. "If I wasn't the man I was, I'd kiss ya." The demo said. I tilted my head slightly at that. "Don't mind him, partner. He's a bit wasted." Engi explained. As if I couldn't tell. Then the sniper looked at me. "Nice to meet ya mate." He said, giving a slight nod my way. So this was sniper. I had heard that the snipers constantly have trouble with spies. He seems perfectly capable of handling a spy though so I wonder why he'd have so much trouble.

After Engi reminded Sniper it was his turn to clean the bathroom, he took me down a hall to show me the dining room and the kitchen. It was there that we were greeted by a very tall man with a shaven head and was slightly on the chunky side. Big guy though, could probably snap a neck without too much effort.

"How's it going, stretch?" Engi said, looking at the tall man. The man seemed to get really happy when he saw Engi. "ENGINEER! Is good to see you!" The man called out. Then he looked at me. "Is this new pyro? He's so tiny!" Engi chuckled at his friend. "Pyro, that's Heavy." He explained. Heavy smiled. "I am heavy weapons guy!" Heavy repeated. I chuckled a bit.

"Heavy this is our new Pyro." Engi continued. "Pyro is little tiny man, but he looks like a strong tiny man! We will make good team!" Heavy beamed. I couldn't help but smile at the big guy, even though they couldn't see it. So far, Heavy was definitely my favorite of the group. He's just a happy person, someone you would want to be around.

Heavy took a big bite of his sandwich as Engi stated he had to keep moving and we'd see him later. After waving goodbye to Heavy, Engi took us down a different hall. "This here is the Infirmary." Engi stated opening the large double doors. The heavy smell of anti-bacterial and latex filled my mask. You could definitely tell it was an infirmary.

"Hey Doc!" Engi called to a tall man standing in front of a hospital bed. The doctor turned to Engi with a questioning look. "Vat iz it, Engi? Are you hurt?" The man asked. "Nah, just want you to meet our new teammate. Pyro, Medic. Medic, Pyro."

"Ah. Ze new von. Hallo zere, herr pyro." Medic said. The heavy german accent was fun to listen too honestly. I liked it.

I waved to Medic, trying to be polite, when I heard another voice. "Hey Doc, C'mon man! I wanna get movin!" The Medic seemed to roll his eyes and turn back to the hospital bed. "Is that you, string-bean?" I heard Engi ask. "Ja. Herr Scout Iz here." The Medic replied.

"What in tarnation have you done now, string-bean?" Engi asked. "Frickin Soldier hit me with his shovel!" the voice called. Then the body that I hadn't noticed on the bed before, sat up. A guy with bandaged hands and a hat looked over at us. His left cheek had a fresh square bandage on it, where I assume this Soldier guy hit him.

"Scout, I don't zink Soldier hit you vithout gut veason."The medic stated. Scout glared at Medic. "Ol' Helmet Head needs a baseball bat to his face." Scout muttered. Medic shook his head while rubbing his temples. Scout turned back to Engi and I. "Oh hey look, a new mumbler. How's it going Pyro. I'm Scout, the greatest guy you're ever gonna meet." Scout then hopped off the bed. "Hey thanks Doc!" he called to Medic. I heard Medic mumble something, but I couldn't understand him, however I don't think it was anything nice.

"I'd love to stay and chat but I actually have to go do things unlike you guys." Scout yelled as he left the infirmary. Medic shook his head, turning to his desk. Engi told Medic we were going to go finish the tour of the base and we said our goodbyes.

Our last stop was the hall with all the bedrooms. There, two other men were standing outside one of the bedrooms. One wore a helmet and had a rocket launcher on his back. Judging from Scout's "helmet head" reference, I assumed that this was Soldier. As for the other guy, he was in a mask and a nice red Italian suit. He looked like the Blu spy from the monitors in the Administrator's office. So I could only assume that this was Spy.

"Howdy boys." Engi said as we approached. "Bonjour, mon ami." Spy answered, turning to us. "Engi." Soldier nodded his head in Engi's direction. They both watched me, but Soldier watched me as though I were a terrorist or something. "Boys, this is our new Pyro. Pyro, this is Soldier and Spy." Engi introduced.

"Recruit." Soldier said simply. "Bonjour pyro. It's nice to have you." Spy seemed like a reasonable guy at least. Well, most of them seemed pretty reasonable really. Scout and Soldier are the only ones that seemed like they could be difficult.

The air around was tense and I didn't like the look Soldier was giving me. Apparently, Engi felt the tenion in the air too and didn't like it because he hurriedly said goodbye to Soldier and Spy, pushing me away.

"Sorry about that, Pardner. The air over there was just getting too tense for me. Anyway this is your room." Engi opened the door to a bedroom and motioned for me to enter. When I did I found the room to be quite roomy. It wasn't cramped like I thought it would be. Over leaning up against the far wall were my weapons; a flamethrower, shot gun, and a fire ax. "Well. I'll lay the key on your dresser and let you get settled in. Dinner is normally served at 6. It's good to have you here, Pyro." Engi said before leaving, closing the door behind him.

I sighed, taking my mask off. I forgot I'd have to eat. I laid down on my bed, which was strangely comfortable and tried to decide what I was going to do for dinner. I wanted to eat, but was it worth risking my gender being made known?

I guess I'd have to head down there and see what happens. This might prove to be an interesting night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: First off, Thanks so much for the reviews guys! I really appreciate them. Well, here's chapter 2. I was kind of hoping to of had this up already but I lost internet for a while. So I couldn't post it. Chapter 3 should be up a lot sooner though. (Yay!)  
**

**Anyway, let's continue the story, shall we?**

* * *

After lying down for about 5 minutes, I turned to look at the small black digital clock on the nightstand. It was 5:37p.m. I had roughly 23 minutes before I had to go to the dining room for dinner. Sitting up, I realized I still had to unpack.

Unpacking didn't take as long as I thought it would, luckily. Only took me about 15 minutes to take everything out of the bag and put it away. The only thing I had left to do was decide what I was going to do about dinner. Do I wear my suit and try to sneak a meal later or try to make myself look as boyish as possible and eat until I can't eat anymore.

I pondered this question for a few minutes before deciding that it'd be best to wear my suit and mask tonight while I get a feel for what the others are like, without getting discovered. So, I pulled my mask on and zipped up my suit, making sure that I was concealed before leaving.

I found myself lost in the long hallways of the fort. I didn't ask for this and why did this hall smell like feet? I was ready to give up until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning, I found it to be Engi.

"You're looking a little lost, there Pardner." He smirked. I just laughed nervously, shrugging a bit at him. He chuckled and motioned for me to follow him. "Happens to the best of us. We all got lost at least 3 times our first day." He rambled, as we walked in what I assumed to be the direction of the dining room. Who designed this building and who thought it'd be a great idea to make this many hallways? Engi was saying something else, but I stopped listening, trying to take note of any marks on the walls or floors that I could use to remind me of where to go. I didn't start listening to him again until I heard something that caught my attention.

"You better be careful. Soldier seems to have taken a disliking to you. He doesn't trust you, so watch what you say and do around him, or you might be in for a world of hurt." Engi explained. So I wasn't imagining the look Soldier was giving me earlier. Great, the guy who likes to hit people with shovels and has the rocket launcher doesn't like me. I tilted my head at Engi, giving him a questioning look, hoping he might tell me more.

He seemed to notice my motion as he decided to talk more. "Soldier can be hard to get along with at first, that's just the way he is. He n' Scout still butt heads every now and then. Heavy n' Sniper still don't take much liking to him either." Well Scout does seem like he can be a little obnoxious, but Heavy and Sniper? That doesn't seem right. Heavy doesn't look like he could dislike anyone and Sniper just seems so relaxed. I can't see him disliking anyone either. This Soldier guy must be pretty insane.

"But, he'll get used to ya. Just watch yerself fer now." Engi smiled. I nodded at him. "Hey, hard hat! Where ya been, man? We been waitin' for ya!" Scout shouted, leaning out of a door way, looking in our direction. "Our new friend got a little lost. I had to help'em out." Engi chuckled. Scout laughed out loud. "Way to go, Mumbles."

Engi and I followed Scout into the dining room. Everyone was there. Heavy was holding his stomach. The poor guy looked like he was going to starve if he didn't get any food within the next few seconds. Scout ran over to bother Spy, who sat at the end of the table. He looked like he was using every bit of self control he had to not tape Scout's mouth shut. Demo was asleep on the table, must've had one too many I guess. And Medic was with Sniper. The two were bringing the food out, setting everything on the table. It smelled delicious. Lastly, there was Soldier, who sat quietly at the head of the table.

The meal consisted of steamed vegetables, smoked ham, mashed potatoes and collard greens. I'm pretty sure my mouth was watering, but I'd have to wait until later to eat. I couldn't risk blowing my cove just yet. When Scout noticed I wasn't eating and asked if I was going to eat, I shook my head. He gave me a confused look, but shrugged it off, leaving the matter alone. Good. After that I spent most of dinner listening to Engi, who was talking to me about the different things that he has built and how they work, and watching Heavy. The guy was a garbage disposal. I honestly think he would've eaten the plate if he could. This guy was currently on his 9th serving of food, just shoveling bite after bite down his throat. It was actually really entertaining to watch.

However, if looks could kill, I'd be dead. Ever since I walked into the room Soldier had been giving me nasty looks. The guy was really starting to scare me here. I wish I knew how to get him to like me, because I'd be willing to do just about anything to get him to stop looking at me like this. He looked like he could get up and just murder me at any second, which with the face he had now I'm sure that's exactly what he wanted to.

"Mon dieu. Pyro, mon ami. I will pay you to set this idiot on fire." Spy sighed, gesturing to Scout. I turned to Spy on my left. He was rubbing his temples, poor guy. "Ha! Yeah right, like mumbles here would do that to me." Scout teased, leaning on the back of my chair. Spy's request was tempting. If only I had my flamethrower. "Hey Spy," Scout yelled out. "you wanna g- Hey, where'd he go?" Suddenly Spy was gone. This must be his cloaking move, interesting.

There was a loud tapping on glass. I looked towards where the noise was coming from to find Medic, standing up ready to say something. The room grew quiet.

"Ah, gut. I have your attention. Now, I vould like to say a few zings. First, I'd like to velcome herr Pyro. Iz gut to have you. Next, I vant to vish everyvon gut luck in the mission tomorrow. Iz going to be a gut von I zink. Lastly, I zink we should make a toast to a new and improved team. Let us do our best!" Medic declared, raising his glass. The rest of us followed him, tapping glasses and taking a swig of our drinks. Well, save for me. I just returned my glass to the table.

Medic sat back down and everyone began chatting. Until Scout noticed Soldier who was now just sitting back in his chair, glaring at everyone. Was this guy ever happy? Scout approached Soldier and with every step Scout took I swore I could see Soldier grow more upset.

"Hey, Helmet head, what's your problem?" Scout questioned. To which Soldier quickly responded by standing up from his chair and gathering his dishes, starting to walk towards the kitchen. "Hey! I'm talking to you." Soldier stopped walking and turned back to Scout. "You better back down, son, before I leave more than a scratch on your face."

Then, the room was quiet, all eyes on Soldier and Scout. "I'm not afraid of you; I just want to know what your problem is!" Scout actually looked upset. I watched as the two yelled at each other. Soldier basically repeating how it was none of Scout's business and that he needed to back off. Scout just argued that as his teammate it was his business.

Soldier had had enough. I watched as he grabbed his shovel from his back. I just realized that he had replaced the rocket launcher with the shovel. Soldier raised the shovel and walked towards Scout, grabbing his collar. Scout braced himself for the hit as the shovel was fast approaching his face.

"Zat iz quite enough." Medic grabbed Soldier's arm before the shovel could hit Scout and pushed him away, separating the two. "No, let him do it, Doc. Then I'll have a reason to pound him." Scout argued. Medic glared at Scout. "I don't zink so because if I have to spend anozer 20 minutes or more vith you in ze infirmary today, I vill loose vat little mind I have left!" Scout frowned and muttered something to Medic before walking away. Soldier just growled, returning his shovel to his back and taking his leave.

Medic sighed and began cleaning his plate up, having had enough excitement for one night. Sniper shook his head, cleaning up his own area. Others soon followed.

Demo stayed asleep while everyone cleaned up. It was Heavy's night to do the dishes. Scout was supposed to help him, but oddly enough the guy was nowhere to be found. So, I began helping, drying them as he washed them. Seeing that we two had it covered, everyone headed out to their rooms or where ever they wanted to be at this point in time. Engi reminded me of where to go to get back to my room before leaving.

"I hope team did not scare tiny fire man."Heavy said. I turned to him. He was concentrated on the dishes and didn't look to be showing much emotion, but I could see it in his eyes that the incident that just occurred upset the big guy. "Nuh-uh." I said, shaking my head. Heavy smiled a little at that, but said nothing else.

When the dishes were done Heavy put everything away, showing me where things went. Once everything was put away he said goodnight to me and headed out to his room. I turned off the lights, not really hungry anymore, and trailed back to the dining room where Demo was still passed out. I chuckled quietly, turning off the lights before heading to my room.

Surprisingly, I only took one wrong turn on my way to my room. I corrected this after realizing I was not going where I needed too. My room was in sight when I was pulled by something off to the side. After steadying myself, I found that it was Soldier who pulled me off to the side.

"Listen here, Maggot. I don't like you. There's something different about you, you're not like us. I don't trust you and I think you're hiding something from us. And believe me when I say I'll find out what it is, because I will. Do you understand me?" I nodded as quickly as I could before this guy ripped one of my arms off or something. "Good. Now get out of my sight." He ordered, pushing me out of his way. I stood there stunned and slightly scared.

I stepped into my room, closing the door behind me. How could Soldier infer so much about me, the guy hasn't even seen my face? How does he know I'm hiding something? How did I give him a reason to distrust me? What exactly have I done wrong?

That's what I thought about as I changed out of my suit and into my PJ's. I just didn't understand it. However, due to my exhausted state, I decided to not worry about it right now. I looked on the planner that was on my door. I had to be at breakfast at 6:30a.m. So I should set the alarm for 5.

I set the alarm, turned off the lights and crawled into bed. It felt so good to be out of that mask and suit. I've never thought a bed could feel so comfortable.

It had been a long and interesting day. I recalled the day's events as I drifted into a light sleep.

_**The building was glowing with brilliant reds and oranges of a fire. Loud and agonizing screams erupted from the building as the fire grew in size and power. I stared at the fire, amazed by its beauty. The only thing I could see was the fire and the only thing I heard was the low humming sound the fire made as it consumed everything in its path. I was captivated by the bright colors.**_

_**I couldn't imagine anything as pretty as fire, except for a rainbow. A fire, of course, was nothing more than a rainbow filled with different shades of red. The sparks that burst into the air as smoke rose from the fire, looked just like tiny sparkles in the sky. Absolutely stunning and to think that I had made this beautiful work of art, it was amazing. And all it took was a few lit matches, a small propane tank and an old flare gun. **_

_**Lost in the colors of the fire, I had forgotten that with this great beauty came great pain. The people inside that building fought for their lives trying to get out of the fire. A boy of 10 years, a father of 32 years and a mother of 28 years who was expecting a child in 3 months. The 3 fought, wanting nothing more than to live and get out of the building. While their screams did nothing but make them inhale the thick smoke and ash. This would only quicken their death if they continued. **_

_**Loud sirens burst through my consciousness as I came back down to earth, releasing my heavy gaze on the fire. I looked towards the house, just now completely realizing what I had done. The screams rang through my ears. The screams of my family. I stared now in horror more than awe as fire fighters ran into the building. They returned, carrying out my mother and older brother. My father held onto one of the firefighters as he ran out, a fire blanket draped over him.**_

_**My mother wasn't breathing, my brother's back was horribly burned, and my father managed to escape with minor scratches and burns on his face and arms. My brother was crying and my father was yelling in my direction. I closed my eyes, trying to listen only to the fire.**_

I jumped up, drenched in a cold sweat. It was only a dream. That's all it ever was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:**

**Hey guys! So this took entirely to long to get up, I apologize for that. Anyway here's Chapter 3. I'll be posting Chapter 4 tomorrow. **

* * *

4:30a.m. I'd been up for about 2 hours now. It's been like this for a while now. Every now and then I'll find myself having that same reoccurring dream. It's always the same.

I'd have to get ready in a half hour for the mission. Everyone else is probably sleeping, now would be a good time to get breakfast before they wake up. I crawled out of my cocoon of blankets, shivering at the cold air of the base. I made my way into the bathroom to find what can only be described as an eagle's nest that was my hair. I grumbled a few colorful words when I attempted to brush the tangled brown mess. Once it was semi-tame, I braided it loosely, keeping it out of my face. I didn't know what I'd be doing in today's mission, but the last thing I needed was my hair moving in my face under my mask while I'm trying to fight.

I finished getting ready, throwing my suit and mask on, just in case someone actually was awake now. I fixed my ax on my back along with my shot gun, making sure it was comfortable to walk with. After turning off my alarm, I made my way into the hall, grabbing my flamethrower on the way.

For once I managed to find my way to the kitchen pretty quickly, only making 2 wrong turns. I was also really surprised at how light my flamethrower was. It couldn't be any more than 40 bounds. Honestly, I was expecting heavier.

I stepped into the kitchen, leaving my flamethrower in the hallway, ready to feast while everyone was sleeping. Only, much to my dismay, I wasn't the only one who decided to get up early. There, standing at the counter right in front of me getting coffee was Soldier. I really should've eaten something last night…

He didn't seem to notice me at first, but the second I stepped towards the fridge he spoke up. "You're up early, maggot." He stated, turning to me while sipping his coffee. He leaned up against the counter, waiting for me to acknowledge him. Like me, he too was already in his uniform.

I nodded to him. "Well. At least you're not a slacker and can actually wake up at a reasonable time." Oh if only he knew I was struggling to stay awake. "Mhm" That was the most I could get out at the time. I don't get intimidated often, but Soldier definitely intimidated me. I mean the guy hits his own teammates with shovels for crying out loud. Not to mention, I've never had someone get in my face like he did yesterday.

When he didn't say anything else, I quickly made my way towards the fruit bowl. I snatched an apple and a pear from the bowl. This ought to hold me for a while, I hope. I looked over to Soldier who seemed to be in deep thought. I wonder what goes on under that helmet. I left him to his thinking and went to the dining room.

I guess Demo woke up sometime last night and went to his room because he was no longer passed out on the dining room table. I lifted my mask enough to uncover my mouth and started eating on my apple.

I tossed the cores of the two fruits in the trash and returned the mask over my mouth as soldier walked in. He sat across from me at the table and stared at me. "Okay maggot. Since we have time, I'm going to give you the run-down of our mission today." He started. This might be the first time I haven't felt completely intimidated by Soldier. I made sure to listen though, this was important.

"We'll be playing a little game of Capture the flag today. Our goal, get in the enemy base, grab their intelligence, a briefcase with their information and data in it, and bring it back. We normally leave getting the intelligence to scout or Pyro, so you. The rest of us stay on the front lines and try to hold the other team off while you two do that. Engi stays by our intelligence to protect it." Wow it really was capture the flag, just more dangerous and deadly. Fun. "For this mission, I want you to leave the intelligence be and just help hold the Blu team back. You set them on fire and get their health down; the rest of us will finish them off. If there's a medic, go for the medic first."

I nodded to him and saluted. I get what he's trying to do. He wants to see how good I am, what I need to work on, and if he can trust me. This is completely understandable. Soldier stared me down, silently judging me. I tried not to move. He was starting to scare me again. He didn't stop staring at me until Engi walked in.

"Mornin' ya'll." I smiled at the friendly face, not that anyone could see it. "Is the intelligence in place?" Soldier asked, completely changing his attention to Engi. "Yeah. Everything's all set." Soldier smirked. "Good work Soldier." He patted Engi on the back and headed towards the door way to leave. Engi sat next to me and greeted me. He gave a me a few tips for being out in the field. Always spy check, always watch your back and look out for your team. Sounds simple enough.

Engi told me it was about time to head down to the spawn so the two of us walked there together, he showed me the way to this room with a teleporter. "This here will take us to the spawn room with the arena. It ain't my teleporter, but she gets the job done." Engi explained. He then picked up a large tool box and stood on the teleporter. "See ya there." Then he was gone.

I waited a few seconds then stepped on the teleporter myself. There was a quick flash and suddenly I was somewhere else and I felt sick. Engi handed me a trash can. "First time being teleported, ya might need this, pardner." I nodded my thanks to him. I thought I was going to have to use it, but turns out I didn't need it. I was fine after a few seconds.

I stood awkwardly as Demoman walked, or what I assumed was walking, around the room. This guy was never not drunk I swear. Eventually he made his way towards me.

"Pyro, Sorry for being a wee bit drunk on ye'. Name's Demo. I'm always tryin'ta be a teensy bit drunk. Keeps me mind off the pain. Ye'know?" Wow. He didn't sound that drunk. I nodded to him. "Aye thanks for understandin', mate."

Demo took a few more big swigs of his bottle and walked off. Slowly the team teleported in and once we were all here, I heard the announcer. "Mission starts in 10 seconds." I just realized I didn't know the map. I remember Engi telling me it was called Teufort, but that's about it. Luckily I was pretty good at remembering maps and all the twists and turns in them.

"5, 4…." Well here goes nothing… "3, 2…" Can I do this? "1…." Is this going to hurt as much as they say? "Begin!"

We raced out, most calling out with battle cries. I remained quiet. I ran out into a large room and looked around. Sniper, Scout, Soldier, Medic and Heavy went left. Engi went right. Demo straight. Spy… disappeared. I decided to follow where most of the others went and headed left. I trailed medic and Heavy, listening as Rockets were fired in near distance. Sniper's rifle fired. A Scout screamed. Heavy yelled as he jumped down onto the ground, Medic right behind him. There was an old bridge in the middle, water on either side, tunnels under both ends of it. I breathed out. Game time.

I lit my flamethrower, ready to use it when needed. Soldier was battling it out with a heavy medic team. Heavy and Medic were shooting at anyone they could. Sniper was on the upper platform of our base, trying to take care of Blu Sniper. Scout was probably in the other base. I couldn't tell.

Time to do my part. Soldier was watching me, I knew it. I had to prove to him I was good. I ran down the bridge and lit the enemy Soldier on fire. His screams rang though my ears. He lit up like a Christmas tree. Haha… He's sparkly…

Without hesitation I continue hitting the Soldier with my flames for a few seconds then run off, letting demo finish him off. I ducked, dodging the headshot the Blu Sniper would've had on me. Laughing, I slid between Blu Medic and Heavy, airblasted the Medic away from the Heavy so that he couldn't heal him, turned lit the Heavy on fire and airblasted him into Soldier's incoming rocket. When Blu heavy exploded Soldier laughed. I returned my attention to the Blu Medic, who at this point was trying to flee. Not on my watch. I switched out my flamethrower for my shotgun and took aim. Bang! Strike one… Bang! Strike 2… Bang! Strike 3 and you're outta here! The Blu Medic fell without another breath.

I gasped as a sharp pain ripped through my back. I turned to find Blu Scout shooting at me from behind. So that's how he wanted to play. Okay.

I ran towards him. He was faster, but I was smarter. I chased him into our base and into the basement, I heard a silent steady beeping sound. I vaguely remember Engi telling me about one of his weapons at dinner last night. What was it… I couldn't remember.

Either way this Scout seemed wary of approaching the area that the beeping was coming from. Poor guy, he's probably just really shy of meeting Engi. Maybe I should just give him a little… push.

I shot at the Blu Scout's feet, throwing him off balance long enough for me to catch up to him. As I ran towards him I switched out my shot gun for my flamethrower. I chased him down a small hall that he didn't seem to thrilled to be going down, into a room with a desk and… a briefcase. The intelligence!

The Scout stopped right before entering the room. The beeping was loud. Shy little guy… Maybe I should help him. I airblasted him into the room and within a few quick seconds he went down screaming. I walked in and saw Engi laughing behind this big… sentry! That's what it was! It automatically shoots people on the other team! Engi grinned at me the pointed up. "Go! Go! Go!" he called. I nodded, understanding that he wanted me back up top.

I made my way out of the room and back down the same hallway. Then I heard a whooshing sound to my left. I turned to just see the Blu Spy disguise as our Spy. I knew spies were capable of that, but I didn't realize they could do it so quickly.

He ran down another hallway back towards Engi. Oh no he doesn't. Followed the Spy and when I got back to the room he was next to the sentry. "Ah good. You got ze Scout. I saw him head in here and I wanted to make sure you were okay mon ami!" The Blu spy said. Engi nodded his thanks, thinking it was our Spy. I shook my head and yelled, hoping Engi would understand. "It's a Spy!" I called out pointing at the Spy. Engi raised an eyebrow at me, confused. I rolled my eyes, running over. I was about to set the Spy on fire when Suddenly, there was a loud bang and everything went blank.

When I came to I was back in the spawn. "Damn… I died…" I muttered. I'd have to be more careful about approaching that Blu Spy. "We have taken the enemy intelligence." I heard the announcer say which meant we were in the lead right now. We still had to capture it. Which meant whoever had the intelligence needed help.

I ran out of the spawn again and out to the bridge. Soldier was struggling with Blue Demo and Soldier, I ran over to help him, and quickly I set the 2 on fire, leaving the rest to Soldier, which he seemed to be able to handle quite nicely. I looked around trying to find whoever had the intelligence so that I could help them.

"Fire! Fire! Fiiiire!" the screaming came from Heavy. Where was Medic? I guess they got him. I wonder if I could… I made my way to Heavy, setting the enemy Medic/Heavy team on fire as I went, Sniper and Soldier made quick work with them. Heavy was currently fighting Pyro with his fist and wasn't winning. Since my suit was fire proof, I jumped between them, quickly switching my flame thrower out for my fire ax. I jammed my ax into the pyro a couple of times until he finally died, but I was pretty beat up now. I switched back to my flamethrower and airblasted Heavy. Just as I hopped it would, it extinguished him. Good. "Thank you!" Heavy beamed at me. "Medic is dead! You fight with me!" He ordered, picking up his minigun. I nodded to him. "Come!" Heavy Instructed.

He lead me into the Blu base where we were immediately bombarded by a sentry and Blu Scout. "We have captured the Enemy intelligence!" Announcer declared. 1-0. So far so good. I saw Blu Medic, but I wasn't sure how he'd gotten there so fast. He must've respawned really fast. I looked up at Heavy, waiting for him to tell me what the plan was. He nodded slightly in the Medic's direction. Now I was confused why did it seem like he was plotting with the other team? Heavy wouldn't do that… Would he?

"Use shot gun. Get tiny Engineer's attention. I get little baby man." Heavy ordered. Okay? But wouldn't the Medic just heal them? "Go!" Heavy's voice boomed as I switched to my shot gun and ran out. The Engi and the sentry locked on me. I thought I was going to die with the small bit of life I had left, but just before I thought I was going down, the shooting ceased. I saw little bolts coming off the sentry and the other building the Blu Engineer had up. The Blu Engi and Scout were on the ground with deep gushing holes in their back.

"Ugh. I got blood on my suit…" I turned to the familiar voice. Spy! So he was the Medic. I get it now. "Pow! Haha!" Heavy smiled victoriously. "Follow me." Spy said. Heavy and I nodded, following Spy, he lead us up to the room right outside Blu's spawn. The 3 of us stayed here, steadily taking down the Blu members as they came out of their spawn. I grabbed the small health pack in a room right off the larger one the 3 of us were in and rushed back to Heavy and Spy. The three of us laughed as we killed off each member of the Blu team.

Within seconds we had another capture. "One more and we all go home." Spy said. I smiled. "Yes! Cry some more! HAHAHAHAHA!" Heavy was having too much fun with this. Course I can't say much. I was having the time of my life here just setting Blu member upon Blu member on fire.

We hadn't seen Blu Heavy or Blu Medic in a while, which was fine, Soldier, Demo, Scout and Sniper were probably taking care of them. I didn't think about it too much.

Then Blu Heavy and Medic rush out of the spawn, looking like a metallic version of their color. The stranger thing was, neither my fire nor my shotgun were doing any damage to either of them. What's going on?! My body exploded with pain as the Blu Heavy focused his minigun on me. I yelled out and everything was blank.

Back in spawn again, Heavy and Spy right behind me. I cocked my head to the side, showing I was confused. "Zat was an Ubercharge, mon Pyro." Spy said. "Medic charges it with his medigun and then uses it on one of his teammates. It makes them invincible to all damage for a few seconds." I sighed when Spy finished. That is some bullshit. That's what that is. I'm going to have to find a way around that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: So I know chapter 4 was supposed to be out a while ago, and I apologize for the wait guys. I've been doing a lot of testing at school and had to keep putting off posting because of it. But, here it is! Sorry again for the wait. Happy reading!**

* * *

Spy and Heavy didn't waste another second in the spawn. They left, leaving me by myself while I thought about the uber charge for a minute. There had to be ways to stop it, if only to take even one of the duo down, that should do it, right? Shaking my head, I decided I'd think about it later and left the spawn.

I went to the upper platform where Sniper was, landing headshot after headshot. I noticed a blue dot trailing up his arm and towards his head. I looked around and found that the Blu Sniper was hiding at the doorway of their base, pretty hard to see really. I turned back to Sniper. The Blue dot was now on his forehead.

"No!" I called out running to Sniper and pushing him out of the way. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and crumbled to the floor. I blacked out.

Once again I found myself in the Spawn. God damn, that last death really hurt.

Note to self: don't get shot in the head.

Jogging back to Sniper, to make sure he was okay, I noticed I was moving slower. I guess my adrenaline high was calming down a bit. I got back to Sniper pretty quickly. He waved at me and went right back to shooting the other team. He looked fine. Except for the Spy that was about to backstab him!

"Sniper!" I called out. He didn't seem to notice. Ugh here we go again.

Bracing myself, for another very possible death, I rushed in with my flamethrower ablaze. "Fire, fire, fire!" The Spy yelled as he slowly burned to death. I backed him against the wall and torched him until he fell to the ground, dead. I sighed and turned to Sniper. He looked shocked.

"Thanks, mate. Again…" I nodded to him and pointed out on the field. He nodded back, returning to his killing. "Stupid bloody spies…" I chuckled at his comment before moving on.

"The Enemy has taken our intelligence!" Announcer's voice boomed over the speakers. Wait, if they had the intelligence, did that mean that Blu Spy had actually killed Engi? The question lingered in my head as I made my way towards the staircase to the basement, only to be greeted by the Blu Pyro with our intelligence.

"Hudda Mmph mmph!" Is that what I sound like under my mask? How annoying. I reached for my ax, only to be air blasted away from the mumbling man.

Now there was distance between us, so I grabbed my shotgun instead, shooting at the Pyro as he ran. He maneuvered the long halls of the base and was eventually led into a long pipe under the base that was covered in water. My guess was this led out into the water under the bridge. He was going to try and sneak the intelligence to his base through the pipes so that we couldn't see him. Not today he's not.

Just as I was about to kill the Pyro, we went around a corner and I was pulled back and up on to a platform in the pipes that had a bunch of machines on the walls. I was thrown up against one of the walls where I dropped my shotgun. It was then that I saw Blu Spy in front of me. "You think you're real smart, eh mon Pyro?" The Spy didn't seem happy to see me. I struggled to get away but he pinned me against the wall and held his knife up to my neck. Spy was pretty strong, he probably could've cut right through my mask and killed me there. I stopped moving. I knew that I would be respawned if I died, but I didn't want to experience the pain he might cause while trying to kill me. So instead I hoped that if I didn't struggle, he wouldn't cause me too much pain.

How was Blu Spy even alive? Didn't I just kill him not to long ago? Even a scout couldn't have gotten here this fast. Blu Spy chuckled at me, probably because he felt me shaking under him. "I bet you zink you're real good at killing, but you're sadly mistaken mon ami." Spy glared at me and I felt really small, like an ant about to be stepped on. He replaced the knife with his forearm, pressing it against my neck, making breathing harder for me. He then slashed at my wrists, cutting right through the suit, causing me to cry out in pain. The Spy laughed, slashing at them again and again until blood covered the arms of my suit. I felt weak as though I was about to faint. The loss of blood was taking its toll on me. Tears were making steady streams down my face as the pain stayed long after he was done slashing at my wrists.

"Aww. Not so big now are we?" Spy asked. I remained as still and as quiet as I could. He smirked, taking a quick slash at my stomach area, having no problem with cutting through the suit. I cried out again as he cut into the skin. It was deep enough to cause major pain, but not deep enough to kill me. However, I felt like death would be the better option now. Spy laughed again.

"You're just as pathetic as I expected you to be. You're only good when you're not backed against a wall. Any other mercenary would've already found a way out of this." He was right. I should've already found a way out of this situation and been back out on the field, but I wasn't.

"I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to let the pain consume you. Perhaps next time, you'll think twice before running around here killing everyone like you're good at it because I can tell you mon pyro…" He dropped me, letting me fall to the floor and slashed at my legs. He managed two deep cuts under my left knee. I cried out one last time before turning to him as he took my ax and flamethrower away. "You're not that great." He smiled at me, holding up what looked to be a watch. It had green lights on it forming a circle in the middle. What was that? He chuckled once more at my pain before throwing my weapons in the water and taking his leave.

"The enemy has secured our intelligence!" The announcer's voice boomed through my ears. I had to get up. I whimpered out a cry as I went to move. I reached a hand up the wall, trying to use it to stand up. After a few seconds, I was on my feet. My left leg hurt like crazy, but I couldn't let the Spy get to me.

"MEDIC!" I called out. It was nothing but a mumble to the outside world, but I hoped that someone would come running upon hearing it. Nothing. I sighed and using the wall to keep me up, even though the pressure was killing my wrist, moved towards the water. It looked filthy and who knows what kind of germs were in it, however, I'd have to reach in and grab my ax if nothing else. I knelt down, wincing as intense pain shot through my leg, and sucked in my breath. Reaching down into the water I felt tears escape me as the water hit the cuts on my wrist. It stung worse than a hornet.

"Damnit…" I breathed out. After a few seconds of patting around in the water I found my ax pulling it up.

"The enemy has taken our intelligence!" I had to get out there. I pulled myself back up using the wall. I put the sharp end of the ax on the ground with the handle up top, then began to limp my way off the platform and back the way I came using the ax as a cane. Finally leaving the tunnel, I walked up the stairs that lead back into the base.

"The enemy has captured our intelligence!" Damnit, no, not again. I felt useless. When I got to the top of the stairs I called out again. "Medic!" I kept moving, hoping that someone heard. Nothing. I knew Blu team was going to head for the intelligence again, so I had to get to the intelligence room to help Engi the best I could. I looked around trying to remember how to get to the basement. I began making my way down a hallway, stopping only to find myself face to face with the Blu Medic and the other Pyro. They stared at me for a few seconds. Then the Pyro launched himself at me. With the sudden adrenaline rush I grabbed the ax with both hands and swung at him. I heard a rip, followed by blood splatter and the sound of my ax burying itself in the wooden wall. The Pyro's head rolled on the floor as his body fell to the ground.

The Medic jumped back, looking from me to the Pyro, horrified. I pulled the ax out of the wall, stumbling and wincing as more pain shot through my entire body.

My stomach cut was really starting to get to me now as I felt weaker. I moved the ax back to its original place as my cane and moved towards the Medic. He backed up. "How?" He whispered, looking at my current condition. I limped forward again before stabilizing myself and raising my ax, managing a laugh. The Medic gasped and ran, afraid.

I couldn't get the ax back down before I fell. I felt light-headed and the world around me started to fizz out. Then it was black.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Hey fellas, 'ave ya'll seen Pyro lately? I 'aven't seen'em in a while." Engi questioned as the team was headed back to spawn. The mission ended in a win for red, barely, and the tired team was ready to head back to their dorms for a much needed rest.

Upon hearing this all the team members looked at each other with questioning upon shaking heads.

"Non." Spy said, shaking his head. Engi frowned.

"I vill check ze arena for zem. You head back." Medic said. The members nodded, leaving the search to Medic as they headed back to their wasn't long until Medic found the body of his fire loving teammate on the ground, cold and unconscious. "Pyro!" He rushed out. He flipped them on their back and examined the wounds. There was major blood loss and possible infection. Not a job he could just fix with the medigun. He picked up the crippled body, heading back to spawn as quickly as he could. He needed to get back to the infirmary in the fort as soon as possible or red team would be out another pyro.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: It's FINALLY here. Chapter 5! Sorry for the wait guys. There was a lot of stuff I wanted to fit into this chapter. Plus, I had to re-edit this about 50 times because I was half asleep when I wrote most of it. I apologize for any mistakes that might have been missed. That's about it from me. Happy reading!**

* * *

Medic teleported back to the base. The others had been patiently waiting for him. When he got there they immediately turned to him, looking for answers, only to see their fire retardant friend hanging limply from his arms. Medic's face had been flushed from all color at this point.

"Is he okay?" Engi piped up. His words hung in the air as Medic ignored him, scurrying out of the room, leaving the members to contemplate what had happened.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

Soldier Frowned at Medic as he sprinted out with the limp Pyro in his arms. How had Pyro managed to get so incredibly wounded was beyond him. So he decided he had to find out.

Making it his own mission, Soldier made his way around sharp corners and long corridors. His heavy footsteps were made known in the halls as they echoed. After a few more turns he found himself in the communications room. Here he could speak with the Administrator at anytime. Deciding that he needed to see just what Pyro had been up to during the mission, he turned towards a desk with an old radio communicator sitting on it and removed his helmet. Just looking at the radio reminded him of back when he was fighting in the war, when he communicated to his old commander.

After a slight moment of nostalgia, he slid the dusty headphones onto his head as he sat down at the old worn out desk. Letting his fingers glide over the cool metal knobs of the radio, he began searching for the signal while pulling the microphone closer to him. Soldier found himself cringing at the loud static in his ears. Now he remembered why it was rare that he communicated with his commander during the war. The static on the radio could be ear piercing.

After finally finding the signal, and just in time because his ears were killing him, he spoke into the microphone, calling out to the Administrator.

"What is it Soldier?" The women's words were stern and annoyed. Something was bugging her and Soldier had a feeling that it had something to do with today's match.

"I wanted a copy of the footage from the match today, ma'am. I want to see how the new recruit did today. I couldn't keep my eye on'em the entire time. I'd like to see what I missed." Soldier explained.

About 3 seconds after he finished a machine to his right began buzzing and beeping as something was being pushed through. After it stopped, a little flap opened to reveal a small tape. Solder swiped the tape out and read it. It read "Pyro: Capture The Flag-Teufort" with the date on it in messy handwriting.

"There, watch it. I think you'll both like and hate what you see," And with that Administrator cut off the connection and the radio went quiet.

Soldier shook his head, removing the old headphones from his head and replacing them with his helmet. He read the tape again before putting it in the tape player under the monitor in front of him. He flipped the switch on and a soft humming came from the monitor as it sparked to life. The Screen was black for several seconds before a picture replaced it.

It started with the Pyro running out of the spawn and following the other out. He sets blu soldier on fire, then the Heavy and shoots the Medic. Soldier had seen this occur in person, but he didn't realize how crazy Pyro actually looked out there until just now. Sure he enjoys killing the enemy just a much as the next guy, but Pyro… He seemed to be enjoying it just a little too much.

Soldier chuckled at his fire-retardant teammate. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all…

The American watched on as Pyro helped to kill off the scout with Engi, then risk his life to save Engi from the Spy, only to die and be respawed.

"He should've thought that one through…" Muttered words flew from Soldier's lips as he watched Pyro be respawed after charging at the Blu Spy.

Soldier found himself laughing when he got to the time when Pyro started working with Heavy and Spy at the Blu spawn. That was laughable how the Blu members kept trying to get by them. However, his laughing came to a quick halt when the Blu Heavy/Medic team ubered the 3 to their death. He would normally yell at his teammates for letting something like that kill them, but he knew that had he been one of those 3, he would've done the same thing.

He watched Pyro save Sniper more times than should've been necessary after that; making a mental note to approach Sniper on his awareness skills next time he saw him and was very surprised to find that he was impressed. He knew that the Pyro wasn't terrible, but he wasn't expecting him to be a killing machine.

Soldier was beginning to wonder when it was going to show how Pyro got so beat up when suddenly he found himself watching Pyro be pinned to a wall in the tunnels by Blu Spy. Everything went downhill from there. Soldier cringed every time a muffled cry escaped the Pyro as he was sliced and diced by the Spy. When Spy finally left and Pyro stayed on the floor, he thought it was over and he made another mental note to brutally murder the Spy in the next mission for attacking Pyro like he had. It was completely un-called for. Had it been one of his other teammates he would've said they deserved it because he had trained them to get out of situations such as that and if they didn't get out of it, it was their fault. However, it was obvious that Pyro was not as good with these certain situations, and the Spy should've just killed him and got it over with like any honorable mercenary would.

Soldier growled at the screen. The frenchman had always ticked him off, but this was just another reason to blow him to bits. He was about to turn the video off when he noticed movement on the screen. He watched as his teammate pulled him up and over to water to retrieve his ax. He grinned when he saw Pyro use the ax as a cane to pull himself around. That maggot was still trudging along!

Just when Soldier thought it couldn't get any better, he stared at the screen, amazed, as Pyro managed to muster up enough strength to chop off the head of the enemy Pyro. Soldier laughed and only laughed harder when the Medic backed away from Pyro, confused as to what had just happened, before running.

Soldier did frown however when the maggot finally fell to the ground, out cold. He'd pushed himself too hard trying to continue helping the team. Soldier nodded to the virtual body of his teammate, as though it were really him. He had found a new respect for the fire-lover and was very proud have him on the team. Now, Soldier just needed Pyro to get better, so that he could recognize him for the honorable Soldier that he was on that mission.

Soldier pressed the eject button removing the tape and putting it in his jacket, the inner pocket being just big enough to hold it. Then he left the room, heading in the direction of the infirmary.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Bitte..bitte….bitte…" The silent pleas flowed from Medic's lips as he frantically burrowed through his fridges for the item he was looking for.

"Aha!" He beamed when he pulled out a pint of O+ blood. He made his way back to Pyro who he had placed on the operating table. Knowing he didn't have any time to waste he began to remove the suit, unzipping it. After unzipping the tattered suit enough to take the mask off, he made haste in removing it from his teammate's head, letting it fall to the floor. When he ripped the mask off, he froze, staring at the face of his teammate. He was shocked at what he found and it was definitely not what he expected.

He expected to find hard facial features of a man, but instead he found himself looking at the small, delicate features of a woman. Small mousy nose, cheekbones and messy brown hair pulled into a braid. It was definitely not what he expected to find. Shaking his head, he continued his job.

Much to his pleasure, when Medic opened her suit, she was wearing a tank top and shorts under it. He wanted to respect some boundaries here. Medic lifted her slightly, tearing the remains of the torn and tattered suit out from under her and off her body completely.

Medic examined the wounds to their full extent now. He counted at least 5-6 cuts on each wrist/forearm area. Her right arm was still moist up to her elbow, to which Medic assumed was from the water in the pipes as the wounds on that arm looked infected. They were oozing with yellowish tinted clear liquid filled with tiny streaks of blood and cherry red all around the areas. They were definitely infected. He could believe it. That was the sewage water after all.

Once he finished examining the wounds on her wrist, Medic moved to the gash on her stomach. Lifting her tank top enough to examine the wound he could tell that most of the gash looked like it had been a clean cut, but on the ends, it looked ripped, almost as though the skin had been over stretched to further rip and open the wound. Whether intentional or not, Medic was sure that the ripped skin had been what pushed her over the edge. The pyro's entire shirt was drenched in blood from the stomach wound. Medic examined it further, looking for further damage. There was light infection, but all organs seemed to have remained intact.

"You are very lucky fräulein," The hushed words fell from Medic's lips as he moved onto the injured leg.

Had these gashes been made any deeper, Pyro would not have been able to walk. They were just deep enough to cause bleeding with the slightest movement and to bring immense pain to the person. Whoever had done this to her, wanted her to suffer.

After realizing that the biggest problem was blood loss and the infected wounds on her right arm, Medic went to work, using gentle hands to cut the dead skin around all the sliced areas followed by cleansing them. He applied a cold clear liquid to the wounds, to further clean them before taking gauze rolls and wrapping her up tight like a little present on each injured area.

After the wounds and surrounding areas were cleaned up to the best of his ability, he dampened a towel proceeding to wipe away the blood streaks on her exposed skin. Once finished, he sat back and waited. He couldn't use his medigun on her until the infections were gone. When the infections have deteriorated he will use the medic gun to close the wounds and finish up the healing of them. Until then he could only sit and wait, replacing her gauze periodically.

Since her body was unconscious at the moment, it would take care of most of the infection itself until she woke up again. Medic pumped in some of the new blood to replace what she lost. She'd need it because she was only going to lose more as the infections cleared up.

Medic wiped his forehead of sweat when he finished hooking Pyro up to his machines, so that he could continue watching her vitals. A small, tired sighed escaped him. He was exhausted, but he still had to notify the others of Pyro's health, so he dragged himself to the doors, opening them slightly and slipped out.

"Is he okay, Doc?" The Scout's frantic and concerned words rang through the quiet hall as the members of Red turned to Medic, waiting for the answer they all wanted.

"Yah. Pyro vill be fine," Medic declared with a nod. There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief from the red members as Medic spoke.

"Can Heavy see tiny man?" Heavy's normally loud and excited voice had been reduced to one that is quiet and sad. Medic pondered this for a moment before deciding that he should respect Pyro's privacy. He didn't know if Pyro's gender was supposed to be a secret or not, but if it was, he wasn't going to be the one to let it out.

"Nein, ve should leave him be. Let him rest." Heavy's face sank at this, but he nodded, understanding. Heavy and the others, knowing that at this point in time there was nothing else for them here went their separate ways and headed to their dorms for much needed rest. Medic let out another hefty sigh and returned to his desk in the infirmary, quietly taking notes on Pyro's vitals.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

I let out a groan as I opened my eyes to bright lights and a pounding headache. I tried to sit up only to be pushed back down by not only the pain that shot through me, but the hand that insisted I lay back down.

"Not zo fast fräuline. No sitting up yet," the husky and tired voice hit my head hard, only causing it to hurt more. You'd think I was currently experiencing a hangover. I closed my eyes again as the light hurt my eyes. That's when I thought about it. The thick German accent and the heavy smell of latex that filled my nose, I was in the infirmary and Medic was here.

I opened my eyes against the light once again. Why was it so bright? Then I realized my mask wasn't on. Which is why the lights were brighter, the mask wasn't there to dim the light. I moved my hands to my sides slightly only to hiss at the pain. I felt around, no suit. Damnit.

"Stop moving! Zat vill only cause you pain. Now, tell me vat hurts." Medic's voice was stern. I whimpered a bit as his voice echoed throughout my pounding head.

I thought about not answering him, for the sake of my secret being kept, but then I remembered that I had neither my mask nor my suit on, so it didn't really matter anymore. Medic already knew I was female, if he had any brains in that head of his. I've got nothing to lose.

"Does everything count as an answer?" I asked, irritated with my head. I heard Medic give a small chuckle.

"Sawry, but nein. Specifically vat hurts." Medic grinned. Wow, he looked tired.

"My head is pounding. My stomach feels like you're digging your saw into it, and my right wrist hurts pretty bad. My leg and left wrist don't hurt to bad though." I explained. Medic nodded, writing what I was saying down, or at least that's what it looked like.

"Your stomach iz ze vorst off. Your vight wrist iz pretty infected und you probably hit your head ven you fainted." The Medic explained in a lethargic voice.

"So how long am I going to be here?" I asked, not really wanting to stay in here any longer than I had too.

"Anozer couple of hours. Ven ze infection izn't as serious. Zen I can use mien Medigun und finish healing you completely." He finished scribbling whatever it was that he was writing and sat back in his chair. He closed his eyes and I found myself watching his stomach rise up and down at a steady pace. Atleast until the quietness became too overwhelming for me.

"Hey Medic," He opened one eye to look at me, acknowledging that fact that I was speaking. "you're not going to tell anyone are you? About my gender?"

"Not if you don't vant me to, fräulien." He smiled at me and I nodded my thanks. He nodded back, standing up. "Now get some rest. Ven you vake up, I vill have you healed."

Had my head not been pounding, I might've argued with the German and tried to get him to just heal me now, but sleeping didn't sound so bad at that moment. I nodded to him, and let my eyes shut and the darkness consume me again.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

Medic left the room, leaving his patient to rest so that he could get some food. As he started down the hallway he noticed a figure approaching him.

"Soldier." Medic nodded to his short-tempered teammate.

"Evening Medic. How's the recruit?" Soldier's words were loud, but relatively calm at the same time. Well, as calm as Soldier could possibly be.

"He iz better und vill be back on his feet in a few hours."

Soldier nodded at the Medic, taking note of how worn out and tired the man was.

"If the maggot is fine for now, get something to eat and take a nap, Soldier. You look like you've been hit by a train." Soldier ordered. Medic smiled a bit, it was rare that Soldier was this agreeable. Medic wondered what might have caused him to be this calm, but didn't question it. He enjoyed the times when Soldier wasn't busting his eardrums.

Soldier watched Medic walk off then glanced in the infirmary through the small windows on the metal door. The chair was turned away from him, all he could see in the room to prove that Pyro was there, was the mangled and torn asbestos lined suit in the corner and the man's mask sitting on the corner. Soldier ran through his mind what Pyro might actually look like under the mask. Black hair, chiseled jaw, maybe a small beard? Soldier shook his head at the thought. That definitely wasn't possible. He's about Scout's age, so Soldier found himself imagining that Pyro looked similar to Scout.

After thinking on it for a few moments Soldier grew bored. It was obvious that Pyro wasn't going to be able to coherently listen to him right now, much less talk to him. So, Soldier headed back to the break room where he'd most likely find one of his teammates to yell at. Or perhaps he'd find Engi and talk to him. Engi was the only one who Soldier could talk to for extensive amounts of time without getting completely irritated with him and it was something Soldier thoroughly enjoyed in fact. It was nice having someone to talk to late at night after a long day.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Pyro! Vake up!" Medic's voice pulled me out of the darkness of my slumber. My eyes fluttered open and I felt a hand on my back, pushing me forward, helping me to sit up. I prepared for the pain that was sure to follow my movement, but to my surprise, I was fine. There wasn't any pain at all.

I turned to Medic, my eyes wide with confusion. He simply returned with a smile.

"No pain, yah?" He asked, chuckling a bit at my reaction.

"None! Medic, you're amazing!" I beamed, looking at all my recently injured body parts. Everything had been healed. All the gashes and cuts were nothing but scars now. The scar on my stomach looked the best, due to the torn ends of it, it looked like a crooked crescent. I turned excitedly, hopping off the bed. I wanted to move again. I hated being in one place for too long.

However, my rapid switching of positions caused me to have a dizzy spell. I lost my balance and started to fall. Medic caught me promptly, chuckling.

"Nein. I just healed you. Don't hurt yourself again!" He joked. I quickly regained my balance and stepped away from him. I could feel my face turning the slightest bit pink from the incident.

"Hehe… Sorry Medic." I laughed nervously. He chuckled once more at the color of my cheeks before waving it off. He then stood up, reaching for something on one of his higher shelves.

"I thought you mean like zis to wear," He stated, pulling one of my suits down and handing it to me. "Your last vas a bit vorn…" He said glancing at the shredded suit next to the trash.

"You went into my room?" I grinned, raising an eyebrow and taking the suit.

"Nein, nein, nein! It's not like zat!" Medic's words were defensive and he raised his hands as though claiming he was innocent. I laughed at him.

"I understand. Thank you Medic. I appreciate it." I stepped towards him and gave him a hug, showing my thanks. He stood frozen by the act at first, but slowly relaxed into it.

"Bitte." He smiled, returning the hug.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Why didn't you tell me it was breakfast time?!" I whined, zipping my suit up and pulling on my mask. I grabbed Medic's hand and drug him down to the dining room with me. I didn't get lost either. I think I'm finally learning my way around this place. When we got there I was greeted by all 7 of my other teammates. When they saw me their faces seemed to brighten a bit.

"Aye Lad!" Demo was the first to speak up and his voice was soon followed by others. The loudest of al being Heavy who seemed so genuinely overjoyed to see me.

"Leetle fire man is okay!" The words hopped from Heavy's mouth as he picked me up and spun around with a hearty laugh.

I laughed as he spun us around. The entire room seemed to come alive at my presence although I couldn't figure out why. Demo was celebrating with drinking, not surprising. Scout was running about talking about how he knew I'd be fine and he wasn't worried. Spy, Sniper and Engi sat at the table smiling and laughing at Heavy. Medic took a seat at the table, a small grin on his face. And then there was Soldier who sat quietly at the end of the table, emotionless, and with him he held a box. If anything I would've thought Soldier would be giving me the riot act for my performance in the mission, but he sat there and let the others enjoy the moment. However a few moments later Soldier stood up and everyone grew quiet, turning to him with smiles.

"Good to see you up and moving, maggot." Soldier started with a smirk. He received a chuckle from the rest of the team. Why are they chuckling?

"If it makes you feel any better, the ladies love scars," He added. The others nodded in agreement, including Medic who played along. In turn I played along and wiped where my forehead would be on my mask as though I were saying "Phew." This got a few laughs from the guys.

"Alright, Alright back to business," Soldier began. Oh no here it comes. I prepared myself for the yelling of a lifetime.

"Pyro… Great job out there yesterday, son. You made me proud," My eyes widened as the words left Soldier's lips. I what? Did he just say that?

"I admit I had my doubts about you and how trustworthy you were, but I take it back. Your performance was much better than I expected yesterday and I commend you for it." Soldier went on. Sure… I did well with what he saw. Luckily he doesn't know about the Spy incident.

"I had the Administrator send a tape of your parts in the mission yesterday after Medic brought your limp body back to base. I had to find out what happened. After watching the video and showing the others I think I speak for everyone when I say, I don't know how you mustered up the strength to pull off that last kill, but son. That was incredible." Soldier grinned, starting to clap. The others followed.

I stood dumbfounded. Soldier was… proud of me? They continued to clap for a few more seconds before Soldier went to speak again.

"However, Due to your lack of skills to get out of such situations you were put in, I will be putting you through vigorous training to fix that." Soldier declared. There it is. That's what I was waiting for. I saluted him signifying I understood. He nodded, saluting back.

"And now, a present from the Admin herself. Your first new weapon." Soldier walked over to me, handing me the box he had been holding.

I took it, placing it on the table. Scout was suddenly to the right of me, waiting for me to open it. I wasted no time, opening the box. In it I found the prettiest ax I've ever laid my eyes on. It was made of black stone, the sharp ends bright orange and hot to the touch. A note was attached to the box.

"Good work. You're proving to be a good choice. Take this as our way of thanks for making us proud. It's a Sharpened Volcano Fragment. It will set your enemies on fire on contact. Enjoy it and don't hesitate to use it. Good luck and keep it up. –Administrator"

I smiled, pulling the ax from the box, raising it to stare at its beauty. It was a gorgeous weapon and I couldn't wait to use it.

The others "ooed" and "AHed" at it. I mean how could they not? It was beautiful.

"Aw man! That looks awesome! Way to go mumbles!" Scout yelled. For some reason the name "Mumbles" just didn't set well with me. Let's see how well this thing works.

I turned to Scout sharply, ramming my ax into his arm, to which he immediately caught fire.

"AH! I'M BURNIN! I'M BURNIN!" He yelled, running around. The room burst into laughter as Scout completely lost it. Spy walked over thanking me and shaking my hand, proud of me. Medic used his Medigun on Scout after a few seconds, not stopping his laughter at any point.

"Haha, yeah real funny," Scout pouted.

I love these guys.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

Loud footsteps echoed throughout the room as Blu Spy walked across the tile floor. Each step seemed to echo longer. They only stopped when the Spy was a couple feet away from a dark figure in the shadows.

"Morning." He spoke in a monotonous voice.

"Good work today," the figure spoke before having a mild coughing fit. The harsh coughing echoed in the room just like the footsteps had. Spy waiting until the coughing ended to speak again.

"Oui, it was easy. She was weak and illprepared." The figure chuckled at the man's response.

"Keep this up. I like to torture my prey before going in for the kill. " Blu Spy scrunched his nose up at this.

"But I am ze one doing ze dirty work." The figure seemed to tense at this.

"I would do it myself." They coughed some more. " but I can not risk putting myself in danger." She continued. Spy nodded in understanding.

"I will continue to do as you say as long as you continue to pay." Spy spoke as a bag full of money was tossed at him. He grinned the figure nodded.

"Now go." Spy nodded, turning on his heels, taking his leave.

"Slow and painful, Spy. Don't forget." The figure spoke as spy left, leaving the room with nothing but the sound of his steady footsteps and the harsh coughing of the figure of a person in the shadows.


End file.
